The Government has announced that around 40,000 new, high-quality homes will be built on surplus railway land, as the Transport Secretary, Heidi Alexander, unlocks brownfield sites across the country for development.

Building around existing transport hubs lets the Government set a new approach and standard to placemaking and doing so on brownfield land around railway stations really is the win-win they are selling it as. It has long been mooted but rarely delivered. 

The new company tasked with this role will be Platform4, who will be disposing for surplus rail land, attracting private investment and accelerating community regeneration. Opportunities to deliver 2,700 homes on four sites in Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, and Cambridge have already been identified.

Many of these sites already have planning in some sorts, or have had planning and while this might be a useful starting point, it may also lead to worse outcomes if the Government feels it just needs to get projects over the line, rather than make best use of those sites. And it might mean huge tax payer subsidy if buyers or partners feel sites are not worth their investment.

Viability and ambition will be key to these projects succeeding. Some sites already have planning permission dating back decades and so Platform4 needs to assess whether they need updating to deliver more for today’s communities.

The Government would do well to explore our community density approach, where projects are large in scale because they deliver all a community wants and needs. This means more employment space and leisure facilities, greater levels of public services and space, and homes which suit individuals, families and older people. Doing so ensures that the local and regional rail lines, which the ambition is based around, are being used to their full potential.

If they choose not to do this because high rise creates local criticism, which politicians historically fear, then we will end up with projects that are either abandoned and public distrust grows further or underwhelming projects with no real purpose of strategy.

This strategy must be appreciated because existing railways typically cross through communities, which means the right development type can deliver regional employment growth, retail footfall, service provision, as well as housing. They also have a chance to be part of a regional base, for example, a rail line with connections, or potential connections to manufacturing hubs. As rail is direct, the growth and connectivity potential is huge.

It is time we thought about delivering one-hour regions, rather than the 15 minute cities which inevitably leave many people out of the conversation.

The Government should already be thinking about this because in their spatial planning and devolved power policies, regional placemaking is integral. The greatest barrier will be the cost of borrowing because the adage of ‘you need to spend money to make money’ does ring true, particularly if you are attempting to secure tens of billions of pounds in long term private finance for business growth and investment.

From ‘Forward, not back’ and ‘A better plan, a better future’ to ‘the Big Society’ and ‘Levelling Up’, we are rarely short of slogans, yet sadly, actions and conviction politics are in short supply. We can but hope the Labour government really do believe in ‘Change’, otherwise change is what they will get, while communities again get short changed.

Rico Wojtulewcz, Head of Policy and Market Insight, NFB